THE Isle of Man’s commitment to building business relationships with India has been reinforced by a recent Department of Economic Development-led delegation to the country together with a number of companies from the fiduciary, accounting and banking sectors.

During the five-day visit to India, Michael Charlton, International Director, and Steven Beevers, Head of Special Projects, accompanied by local industry representatives, met with a range of senior business people in Mumbai.

As well as hosting a dedicated Isle of Man networking event and private meetings with professional intermediaries, the Island was also represented at the International Taxation Conference, held in Mumbai. The conference, one of the leading regular taxation conferences in the world, was organised by the Foundation for International Taxation (FIT), and was attended by around 500 professionals.

Greg Jones, Tax Director at KPMG Isle of Man, spoke at the conference on the topic of ‘Opportunities for doing business in the UK and EU through the Isle of Man’, which offered an insight into the propositions most of interest to India. These included the Isle of Man as a trading and sales administration base for the EU, shipping and aviation services and UK commercial property ownership.

The visit builds upon a visit undertaken in May this year by Michael Charlton and industry representatives plus London-based initiatives hosted earlier in the year for City-based Indian professionals, given the importance of the City for Indian business and wealth.

Michael Charlton, International Director, Department of Economic Development said:

‘With an impressive current growth rate of over 5.0%, India remains a key market for the Isle of Man, but a long term view for business needs to be taken. The FIT Conference was an opportunity to help build the Island’s profile with the professional community in India and this has resulted in a number of leads and opportunities for industry to follow up on.’

Alan Crowe MLC, Department Member for Financial Services and Country Strategy said:

‘The Isle of Man had established itself as India’s leading choice for AIM market listings prior to the credit crunch and there are signs, evidenced from this visit, that this is likely to pick up again in the near future. With its high growth economy, India also has an increasing requirement for global wealth management services and the Isle of Man is ideally placed to meet these requirements. The Department has a well-defined Country Strategy in place for India and it will be responsive to all the opportunities that arise from key visits such as these.’

Steven Beevers, Head of Special Projects for the Department, said:

‘The trip has been productive in that a number of businesses who participated have already reported great potential for new business and many worthwhile contacts made.’